Evening star., 1936-07-03
SCHOOL REVOLTS
SPREAD IN MEXICO
Rural "PatriotS" Die Trying
to Stop SociaIistic
Teachings.

TleHtS SCHOOt pOltCy 10 ueSS'ioe"
here in the fifth OF a series OF str
articles on Mertco's changing social
order, uritten by newspaper man
irith Wide experience in that
troubled country.
BY GORDON GORDON.
QUERETARO, Mexico. July 3 (NA.
NA).-This historic city of teeming
markets and picturesque Spanish aque-
ducts today is the hub for one of the
most violent disputes that ever ragged
In North America over education.
The governments little frame and
matched school houses are the set
tings for some of the most murderous
raids since Pancho Villa rode two
decades ago. They are the crux of
MeMco's religious turmoil and furnish
the Cardenas administration with a
problem which is daily growing more
serious.
During recent days more than 2
score have died in Canadian, Durango,
In sanguine street battles over the fed
eral schools, and score are dead in
Ciudad Gonzales, Guanajuato. Be-
tween 40 and so have been killed in
the state of Puebla, and the total shot
down in Jalisco approXimates 100. And
30 on, reads the grim and long record.
Hardly day passes that there isn't at
least one casualty in this smouldering
war, an insurrection which is seldom
reported in the Mexican press.
Many mothers and daughters are
offering themselves as sacrifices for
their religious and moral convictions.
In Canadian they deliberately marched
into the bullet fire of the federal SOL
ders, shouting, For God!" There are
Few districts that don't pay honor to
Ut least one martyr" who died for
los muchados"-the children.
Teachers in Dangerous Place.
Arrayed against the crusaders are
the school teachers, who are sent to
their posts after listening to stirring
talks by government minute men who
praise their heroism. These instructors
hold the most dangerous jobs in all
Mexico. They may be shot to death or
stoned and beaten mercilesSly.
The usual procedure in this and the
ride quietly into village. After rop-
ing the teacher to fence post, the
outlaws carve off his or her ears in
slow, flendish fashion. That gruesome
task finished, they set fire to the school
house, send a note to the nearest gar
rison threatening other instructors in
the neighborhood with like fate. and
scurry back to their mountain hide
out.
S1'he schools are an integral part OF
the government siX-year plan. which
was launched in 1884. Before 1910
Mexico expects to establish $4,000 new
schools. Already they are being
founded at the rate of 1000 every
six months. an astounding pace for
small nation which has so long
lacked educational facilities.
Although unorganized. the rebellion
against the schools is widespread and
1t is growing at the same pace as the
governments speed in building new
ones. 1t centers in the villages There
are few disturbances in the cities.
Opposes Persecution"
To quiet the rural regions, President
Cardenas has repeatedly stated that
his administration is opposed to re
ligious persecution" and he has per-
suaded the Governors of II States to
moderate their harsh policies. Quere-
taro already has repealed laws which
closed its churches and yesterday The
State Legislature lifted the ban on
activities of priests. Other States,
though, are defiant toward any move
to alleviate the critical situation. Chi
huahua recently reduced the number
of its priests from four to one. and
such storm centers as Sonora persist
in outlaWing all religion and in pad
locking the churches. Of Mexico's
5000 churches, fully go per cent are
still nailed shut
The school question remains the
chief obstacle to any settlement of
the religious conflict. The schools are
so deeply rooted in the country's rev.
olutionary principles that there can
be no retreat for Cardenas And yet
the cry of hundreds in nearly every
village of any size from Sonora to
Yucatan is, The socialistic schools
must goi"
Straw polls show the preponderance
of sentiment. In Navajoa, Sonora.
typical rural town of Northern Mexico
80 opposed the schools out of 40 ques-
toned. In La Piedad, Miehoacan. on
the central plateau, only 8 out of 81
favored the schools. And in Progreso,
tn 70 Of
out of % voted for the schools.
While the Catholic prelates urge
peaceful means of convincing the gov
eminent the schools are fostering evil
and immoral doctrines, fanatical
groups in the back country continue
to fight with stones and pitchforks and
guns.
Accused of Teaching Atheism.
They accuse the schools of teaching:
Atheism, principles of government
which will eventually turn Mexico
into another Goddess Russia where
family life will be abolished, and sex
facts which are conducive to i'm
morality.
THE teacher told my boy that the
Bible Is only collection of myths"
the mothers in numerous villages in
form travellers. And again: He told
my girl that the padres wanted to
keep us in slavery and in superstition"
Theoretically, the ministry of ed
ucation program provides for instruc-
tion which is .norreligious, similar
to that of the public schools in the
United States, but it provides also
for the teaching of the tenets of the
national revolutionary party, which
has controlled Mexican politics since
1920, and of the six-year plan. These
are diametrically opposed to the par
ticipation OF the church in government
and attack severely the record of the
church in Mexico's history.
That some teachers, swept away in
fha Iinal o,ithI,rct onoiy,ct ho