The Washington times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1902-1939, 1936-12-11

start anything"
Mexican oil workers may bC
bordering something like that
President Cardenas, one Of theil
own, is expected to declare theil
strike ''non-existent," and tina
means some Of the strikers, too
may become non-existent If they
persist in what seems at this dis
lance extraordinary demands
Each worker is to get a cut O.
IL acres Of land; the company
must pay round.trip first-clasS
passage to any place the employe
picks for his vacation.
The employers are to maintain
o staff Of 219 men to run the union
each supplied with an automobile
the make and specifications Of
which will be provided by the work
ers. Wages and hours demands
are such that, according to the
companies, they would bring yearly
operating costs 100000 pesos
above gross returns. To say moth
ing Of the privilege Of a worker
to ask a years vacation in ad
vance, and longer if he is i'll.
RACIAL STRAINS
The population of Mexico is pre-
dominantly of Indian strains. Pres
ident Cardenas is supposed to be
of Tarascan Indian blood. This
racial background, the isolation OF
Mexico, the traditional manana
country, the naivete Of the people
and the Latin admiXture of high
romance provide an intensely in
teresting test tube experiment IN
government, possibly enlightening
as to how important racial and
cultural tradition is in adaptation
to the machine age.
AS we learned in conquering
our frontier, the Indians never
quite understand why we were so
enthusiastic about work. On the
Kansas prairieS in the sixties,
there was an old Indian medicine
man who smoked many pipes over
this. His idea was that work was
a desperate expedient to keep alive,
If you had to go to such extremes,
but that we seemed to be staying
alive solely to hold down jobs
Our entire civilization was all
wrong -end-to, he thought.
When the Oklahoma Indians
got rich out of their oil lands, they
used to hire white men to work
for them. An old buck would set
a white man to digging hole, out
in the hot sun, and then have him
fill it up again, paying perhaps
$40 q day. He enjoyed tremen-
dously seeing the paleface crafty
his yen for work and would pay
any price for the entertainment,
sitting under tree, smoking his
pipe and watching the digging.
There's a bit Of that in the
Mexican.Indian background. The
Mexicans have tremendous ca
pacity for enjoying life-music,
fiestas, dancing, singing, fighting,
skylarking, gambling, drinking,
love-making, and whooping over
the high mesas on a head-strong
cayuse. Modern industry cramps
their style. AS a rule, they are not
culturally conditioned to time
clocks, conveyor belts, starlight
line production, time cards, and
the lockstep of mass industry.
There is something like 1000
million dollars worth of U. S. A.
money invested in Mexico. The
country is an Aladdin's cave of
raw materials which all the world
wants and needs. Probably vul-
rerable and rich country like that
In Europe, Africa or the Near East
would have been over-run and
looted long ago. Certainly, it is
to the credit of America that we
have let Mexico work out its des-
tiny in it's own way.
We didn't interfere when grim
old Porforio Diaz worked the
Yucatan Indians in chain gangs.
under the Scourge Of whips, and
we still leave them alone when
the fantastic demands of their
labor Syndicates affect and pos
sibly endanger our investments.
Considering the present ways Of
the world. that's something to brag
about. It Is true that we did rip
off Texas, but nothing since, and,
II I am not mistaken, this is unique
In world history-the survival Of a
rich, weak nation, across an I'm.
fortified boundary from strong
one.
Somber, swarthy, blocky Presi-
dent Lazaro Cardenas was hewn
out of a chunk of Aztec basalt. I'm
like Gen. Plutarco Gales, he is
q man of the people, in a deep,
chronological sense. A barefoot
peon will approach him and &C.
cost him as casually as if he were
asking for match. He is more of
the somber and humorless Indian
than the effervescent Latin. His
voice is low and unstressed. His
huge, immobile head, with alert
eyes and close.cropped military
mustache, has a monumental
quality.
PRESIDENT CARDENAs
He is a puritan and a prohibi-
ZIONIST. No one may smoke or even
drink beer in his house. Self
taught but widely read, he pom
ders the possibility of the adapta-
ton Of ancient Mexico to the steel
truSsed. alien modern world. Soon
after he became president two
years ago. he said:
1--WE have no interest In any