Arizona republican., 1922-03-24
Twentieth Century at
Last Reaches Nayarit,
Victim of Feudal Rule
Advent of Southern Pacific Railroad of Mex
ico in West Coast StGte Loosens Grip of
Foreign "Houses" and Opens Up Rich
District
By HERBERT COREY
ARTICLE NO. 20

the particular crop he wishes to
raise.
Men tell of riding for miles through
forests of wild lines the rotting fruit
of which literally carpeted the
ground: oranges, lemons, bananas,
cotton, corn, wheat--the list is end
less. While most OF these crops can
be raised without irrigation. SO well
trained is the rainy season. In the
mountains there are proven mines by
the score and the ground has never
been intensively prospected. II is
true that the Huichole and Cora In
dams are still the victims of an un-
worthy race prejudice. and have
drawn a dead line across which white
men only pass II they are known to
the tribe as being without ulterior
motives. But the line viii be crossed
when the pressure OF prosperity
comes
Ruled by Foreign Houses
The trouble has been that the state
has been in the grip of great landed
interests. One Spanish and one Ger
man "house'-the word 'house" is
used here as better descriptive of the
organizations than the more modern
one of company or firm-have dom
mated the situation. The state has
I been ruled as a feudal principality.
| They rule the sugar business here,
/ so that their great eight and ten
mule carts reach every part Of the
state that is reachable by cart. They
run the only soap-making establish
ments in a land which, If not fanatic
in it's liking for soap. is still COM
PEELED BY dusty circumstances to use
it occa sionally. These two houses
| have had the banking business in
their grip. so that they have had al
most the only money loanable in
Nayarit. When the Southern Pacific
| built it's road into Tepic-in 1922.
| mind you--its labor camps were yis-
| ited twice week by the major do
mos Of one these interests.
THAT man is ours" said the major
| domo. "and that one. and that, and
| that"
Stripped Railroad of Workers
The railroad could not fight back.
| It's best men were taken from ii some
! times. Men the road paid three pesos
I and more a day were returned to
/ work for the two great houses for
! less than a peso a day. The men
/ dared not resist. The whip has been
used, and in days not so long past
/ on the haciendas OF the great
'housek." The houses had their
way OF bringing pressure on the
! courts. Until they saw that further
] opposition was useless. they fought
| the coming OF the railroad. Competi-
\ ton from the outside meant cessa-
/ ton of the strangling grip they had
upon the state. This did not make
SO much difference, perhaps. In the
! days of Porfiro Diaz. when NaYarit
was prosperous in spite Of them In
/ those days the great haciendas were
! black with herds. The mines paid
! indirect or direct tribute to the two
/ "houses"-within the past two
months it has been impossible for a
J resident of Tepic to import goods
| from the outer world without paying
a direct fee to one of the houses, .
/ though that house may never have
seen or heard of the shipment until
/ the enforced tax was paid--but 1t
made little difference. Everyone was
making money anyhow.
Then the revolution came, and the
great stage road to Guadalajara went
to pieces. and money became prac-
/ tically existent in Nayarit The
peons Of the houses" were obliged
/ then to pay a tribute in eggs or
! chickens, or Work. or something else
from the soil.
NaVdFlI itAS fNt
The enormous haciendas were
stripped of their cattle by the BAN
dts and the revolutionary, or other
troops. so that the proprietors could
not keep up the payments on their
! MORTGAGES or give TO the state its
duo i'm taxes. The people OF Nayarit
had been long suffering for years,
but the force Of circumstances opened
their eyes to the fact that II they
had had ready access to the markets
Of - world they might still be pros
. porous But with corn at 20 cents a