The daily star-mirror. (Moscow, Idaho) 1911-1939, 1922-02-18
MEXICO WOULD
ABOLISH PULQUE.
Government Tackles Big Task in
Depriving Poorer Classes of
Their Beverage.
TRIED MANY TIMES BEFORE
conquistadores Found the Aztecs
Drinking Pulque, and 1t Has Been
Favorite Triple Of People
Ever Since

Washington, d. C.-"If the Mexican
government has undertaken to abolish
pulque drinking, as dispatches say, it
has assumed a task beside which the
enforcement of our own eighteenth
amendment would seem minor de-
tail Of administration, according to
a bulletin to the Washington Cd. c.
headquarters of the National Geo
graphic society.
"Edicts against pulque are nothing
new in the Mexican's life. AS early
as 1892, at least, a Spanish viceroy
thought it would be good thing to
stop pulque drinking, and precipitated
riot which ended in the burning of
public buildings and as recently as
1917 an anti-pulque section was in
corporated in the new Mexican consti-
tuition. But the Mexican has bliss
fully ignored such prohibitions, as did
the Aztec before him, and as did the
Toltec before the Aztec.
"Drunk only by the poorer classes
pulque can lay one claim, that of age,
to be an aristocrat of new world bev-
tldSCS. ne tOuQuiSiduOItS lOullu lliC
Aztecs drinking pulque, and the Az
tees told the legendary tale of how
certain Toltec saw mouse gnawing
at the heart of growing maguey.
Peering closer he discovered fluid
oozing forth The observant TOltec
sent his daughter to convey a sample
of the fluid to his king The monarch
11<l Az ! II
To them was born child named Me-
conetZin, meaning Child of the Ma
guey.' From that time forth, so runs
the story, the Toltecs began to decline
in power and, their vitality Slapped by
the wine of the maguey they fell easy
prey to the Aztec conquerors in the
Valley of Anahuac.
"Pulque has long entered into Mex
lean history, and is closely related to
social and labor conditions there, be-
cause the geography of certain dis
tricts of the states Of Hidalgo, Tlax-
Gala, Mexico. and of the federal dis
trict itself, is extremely favorable to
There are 80 kinds of cactus which
thrive in the Mexican plateau. all of
which are grouped under the generic
name of 'maguey.' The Greek 'Agave'
(noble) also Is applied to this group,
a Characterization which is defensible
even if the maguey is comparable to
a Gargantuan artichoke
Shipped by TrainIoad.
1.-THE visitor to Apam, a town of
southern Hidalgo, might mistake the
long lines of cars constantly moving
away from the sidings as milk trains.
Instead, they are pulque cargoes, many
Of them bound for Mexico City, where
the gluey, whtsh fluid will find its |
way into the exaggerated 'schOoners, |
set out on the long counters of the
"The most picturesque thing about /
pulque is the method of it's gathering.
If undisturbed a maguey plant would
develop a stalk from three to five times
IS tall as man, and thousands
If yellow flowers would bloom on
his stalk. When the flowers are
about to sprout this stalk is cut off,
he heart of the plant is followed out,
md into the receptacle thus formed
lows the sap of the plant This sap
he natives call aguamiel, honey
water.
along comes the harvester, recog-
lizes a plant which is ready for, him
" the fact that the heart has been
tuck on one Of the sharp spines of
he cactus, and proceeds to empty the
into a pig-skin bag
A Difference in Viewpoint.
fermentation of pulque is has
ened by the Introduction into the
resh liquid Of 'mother-pulque' which
as been kept for ten days or two
yeeks. Ones attitude toward the fin
she'd product is akin to that toward
ne olive-only much more So The
isinterested partakers reaction is al
lost invariably the same-that pulque
istes like sour milk and smells like
atid eggs
This beverage is drunk so gener-
usly by the lower classes, least able
J restrain their appetites, that it has
ecome an economic problem of great
in Mexico because of the
nmediate enforced idleness it causes,
nd because of the degeneracy that re-
Its from its longtime use
"Pulque is not to be confused with
escal and tequila, both distilled
luors derived from the maguey, or
18th aguardiente, Il brandy. distilled
Their from sugar-cane or from grapes.
I'm lesser attitudes than that of the
exican plateau the maguey natures
Try slowly, a fact which led to giving
e nickname century plant to the
lriety found in the Southwest of the
nited States. The abolition of pulque
Duld not affect the high esteem in
lich the maguey plant is held in
exico. Not only is it's beverage very
cient, but its uses always have been
any. A miracle of nature Prescott
He'd it. and small wonder It's leaves
divided papyrus on which many Aztec
were preserved. the ma
les pulled out a thorn with its
tacted fiber, and had needle
ady threaded.