The Redwood gazette., 1919-10-15

MEXICANS ARE THEMSELVES
PREY TO BANDITS OF THEIR
OWN RACE.


The following paragraphs are tax
en- from letter written bv Paul Hitch
cock. formerly Of Redwood Falls to
his parents Mr.. and Mrs. II. M.
Hitchcock. Mr. Hitchcock is now as
sociated with the Study Butte Mining
Company at Study Butte, Texas, and
the letter was written from there.
"Our old neighbor, Harold Peter
son made quite a national reputation
for himself down in our neck Of the
swoods sometime back. It was only
"a few miles east of here that he cross
ed the border and at that time his
& headquarters were about d hundred
miles northeast of here. Had no idea
that he was in this country, or even ii
the Aviation, until saw his name and
address IN the paper. ! wrote him q
note, but at the time he was in Mexico
with the expedition and he did not
get it until he had gone to Ell Paso.
He wrote from there saying that he
would drop In on US if he came back
this way, but he was expecting dis
charge and no doubt has had it by
this time.
"This Mexican business is more or
less like the Negro question lin that
it is hard matter for people IN your
end of the country to understand it,.
It, is by no means joke to those Of
us who are living in the Southwest
and / hope that Uncle Sam will SOON
er or later wake up to the seriousness
of the situation BY this I do not
mean to say that we are in the least
danger here Of any trouble, but rath-
er that the uncertainty of conditions
affects the whole country. 1t affects
the stock business, the commercial
business and the mining business,
equally, by the uncertainty Of the sup
ply, the market and the labor.
! "My experience with the Mexicans
has been to find all that have come
in contact with a very peaceful lot.
There are occasionally exceptions of
course. However the majority Of
them want nothing more than to be
left alone They are lazy and it takes
two of them to do mans work, but
they are paid accordingly and are
satisfied if they get some corn, fri
joles and sugar to live on. It is q few
high-ups that force them into bandi-
try. These few steal their stock, ruin
and mills and force them out of en1-
ployment, and the worker in turn has
to turn bandit and steal to live. With
each raid there are that many more
forced to turn to the same game, an
ever increasing number. Where will
it end There is no government in
Mexico. Millions of dollars are spent,
however, for the army, of which the
soldiers themselves get nothing. The
/ money goes into the pockets of the
officers, and the men shift for thern-
selves. In fact the men have to join
the army to get chance to steal for q
living. Personally can see no out
look for anything better until some
government that is strong enough TO
take over the administration Of the
government and especially the dis
bursements of the income, takes hold
of it.
'sThis probably means nothing to you
in Minnesota who have ideal neigh
bors in Canada. It might mean some-
thing to me as may be IN the south
west for the rest of my life. In fact,
/ have been and am watching it close,
as I believe that wonderful things viii
be done If ever u. S. does take hold.
1--WE have man now working here
as a mine foreman for wages, who a
few years ago was a wealthy man.
He had a big bunch Of cattle in Mexico
only a few miles from the border,
that would be worth fortune today.
They were confiscated by the Govern
mert itself and without one cent paid. 6