Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1929-03-21
BACKGROUND OF EVENTS
BY PAUL y. COLLINS.

practical knowledge of farming. and,
above all, are, by centuries of subiuga-
ton. devoid Of initiative. They had no
farm tools and no farm ambition TO
produce maximum crops. 50, as q rule,
the project has been an agricultural
failure. They were given q COW per
family, but after the feed crop was ex-
hausted by the COW she was neglected,
turned out to forage for herself, and
abandoned.
It viii take generations to bring up
This applies to the haif-breedsMr,ot 10
the Indians Of the 100 or more dia-
lects and Indian habits and organiza-
lions Of tribes.
According to Wallace Thompson, In
his book, THE Mexican Mind:
The problem Is essentially psyche
logical and essentially one which. be-
cause Of the failures and neglect Of the
Meztizos (half-breeds) and the Indians.
the white world must meet and solve.
It, therefore, behooves us to dig deep
into its psychological bases, as well as
It's historical antecedents.
Never. since the Spanish rule, has the
scepter OF vital power been long out
power. animal In its beginnings, and
animal In most of its manifesto tions,
has owed Its control to the numerical
predominance Of the Indian type In
the population. to the dominance of
indian physical and mental traits in
the mass OF MestizoS, and to the greater
adaptabllity Of the Indian to the eli
matte and food conditions.
THE second important element Is
the fact that the strivirgs, the ideals
OF the Indian, are not, as our own
sentimentality would lead US to believe,
toward democracy and that freedom
which We ind need Of In our own
souls, but toward the primal COM
m , which has come down. virtu-
ally unchanged, from pre- Spanish
times, and toward o liberty, which Is
license.
This Mexican communism Is unique,
distinguished from other communal
organizations by. an almost complete
absence OF communal responsibility.
Some years ago the present writer Wis
tied most Of the states Of Mexico and
witnessed evidences Of the blind mixing
OF Indian ideals with those of the mod
ern Catholic Church. For example, the
worship Of q masterpiece painting by
Titan which had been given by Charles
OF Spain to bishop for placating In
dams driven out Of their city Of Tsint-
suntsan by Spanish tyranny and re-
called by the good Bishop Zummarago.
The city Of Tsintsuntsan ut that
time had population OF 10000.
Today 1t Is home for only 400 or
300, but these hold that painting
as miracle worker and refuse
To-
other church, facing the same ruined
cloister. is group of stone idol of
the Tarascan tribe alongside of ar
image Of Christ and the Virgin Mary.
Both the late r. Hopkinson Smith and
the writer hereof came very near being
mobbed by suspicious natives, who fear
ed dissertation Of their holy" picture
and stone Hon"
A few miles out from Cuernavaca
(where our Ambassador Morrow visits
for recreation, and where our "Ambas-
sador Of Peace" Col. Lindbergh, also
finds attractions) are the ruins Of
Xochicaico-a pre-Spanish Aztec tenn
ple-fortress. To reach the ruins it is
necessary to ride horseback some 80
miles and to pass through an Aztec
village OF about 100 inhabitants.
/ was accompanied by O guide who
spoke no dialect which I could under
stand. We passed through this Aztec
village and stopped awhile at the church
and school combined, while the guide
chatted with q group OF rurales-sol-
diers OF the country. All were friendly,
but scarcely had we reached the ruins
before another company Of soldiers"
and motley, surrounded me
and placed me under arrest for visiting
the ruins without a written permit from
the jefo-politico (who had CHANGED to
be absent when we left Cuernavaca.).
My diplomatic guide managed to pla-
cate the leader. and lived to fight
another day"
When I reached the Aztec village
upon the return trip I was again ar
rested and hailed before a court, In
which the school teacher served as
clerk and interpreter from Spanish to
man of the village" and he was fero-
cious and quite vigorous In demanding
qualification" After some parley and
blum and bombaStic Yankee warnings
that the whole Yankee Nation would
defend me. asked what he meant by
qualification" My language was
mostly the tourists sign language, which
10 universal, but was fluent In one
sentence, most useful in Mexico,
&uanOo, ocIio09 \ nOW muCn 90 you
want?")
"Cinquento centavosl" was the stern
mandate OF the court-about. % cents
! boldly refused to be thus robbed by q
descendant OF Montezuma, but my more
diplomatic guide offered to pay my fine
for me II the court would sign q receipt
to be shown the jefo-politico ut Cuer-
navaca. to whom the chief man of the
village" was subject. The charge against
me was that had snapped q kodak at
his highness without paying my re-
spects to him.
But the demand for O written receipt
presented two obstacles. The court
could not write. and he feared his SUI
pertor officer, the jefo-politico. So he
quickly dismissed the case. and ef-
fusively shook hands with the prisoner,
who then lost no time In gallopine
out OF his jurisdiction, barely escaping
The rurales. who had released him at
he ruins of xochicalco. but had de.
cided to rearrest the "0ringo'' and iail
him until released by the Yankee
punitive expedition. They caught the
guide and forced him to pay for q
round Of pulque for the entire band.
It Is such as these that follow the
cad Of any demagogue who promises
DOT and revolution. Cleveland had
only Congress on his hands: Presi.
Dent Hoover win have thousands Of
Mexican Indians on his.
tAaa - p.,,t r<~yn-.N