Askov American. [volume] (Askov, Pine County, Minn.) 1914-current, 1943-01-21

to the problems of cultural lag in this
section of the country is the fact that
over Is per cent of the population,
more than 100000 people, are of
Spanish Mexican desce Latin
Americans. Great numbers of these
people are recent immigrants from
Mexico, but large percentage can
trace their descent to the Spanish
colonists who settled in this area in
the 18th, 18th and 18th centuries.
More than so per cent of the popula-
ton of the state of New Mexico is
of Spanish descent-the great major
ity of this group of that states pop
ulation are descendants of those who
settled in New Mexico in early col
onial days. Texas has about one
million Spanish-speaking people.
Colorado, California, Arizona, and
even middlewestern and northern
states have large numbers of Latin
Americans" Los Angeles, California,
is often referred to as the second larg-
est mexican city" in the world.
Puerto Rico, our island possession, has
almost 100000 Spanish-speaking
people-first-cousins of our south
western Latin Americans.
BY far the largest group of the
Spanish population of con-
tinental United States has come from
Mexico. After the early Spanish
colonization and before 1900 there
was relatively little immigration from
that country to this. The Mexican
war had severed what is now our
Southwest from Mexico in 1848. A
few settlers, students and laborerS
found their way into this region dur
ing the 10Th century. 1t was the
coming of the railroad, with the at
tendant increased activity in industry
and agriculture. that started mass
movement across the northern border
of Mexico. The railroad gave great
impetus to mining, to cattle and
sheep raising, to farming, and to other
enterprises. New towns arose al
most overnight and the older towns
made phenomenal growth. There was
pressing need for manual labor on
the new railroads, in the mines, and
in the extensive cultivation of crops
now made profitable by cheap and
rapid means of transportation.
At the same time, Mexico was be-
ginning to seethe with the unrest
and dissatisfaction which eliminated
in the revolution of 1910. Many lead
ers fled the country and thousands
of families migrated to the north
prior to and during the revolution.
These two reimbursement the result
of the coming of the railroad and the
other the result of civil strife in
MeXico-combined to force large
numbers of Mexicans, rich and poor,
skilled and unskilled, into this coun-
try.
The arrival of large numbers of
Mexicans, at that time and as result
OF World War l, gave fresh stimulus
to this country's Latin American
heritage. The descendants of the
colonial settlers of Texas, California,
New Mexico, Arizona and Colorado
found the Mexican a kindred soul
close relative. Speaking common
language and with much the same
background, these two groups have
become the dominant Latin American
force in the United States. In COM
bination, these peoples are begin
ming to draw attention not possible
to a smaller group and are trying
to promote the beginnings of an APP
preciative consideration of worthy
elements in their lives.
Not all Latin Americans in the
United States are seasonal laborers.
The rural areas of the southwestern
states are are dotted with ranches,
farms and villages populated by those
who have come from Mexico during
the last so years and by those whose
ancestors settled the country in col
onial days. Most of these people are
substantial citizens, already well along
the road to a new Americanism which
combines, in one people, many of the
worthiest elements of the several cul-
lures of the hemisphere. AS with
any other social group, the Latin
Americans in the United States are
to be found in every walk of life.
The Spanish peoples of
the Southwest are admirably situated
to assist in bringing the United States
closer to Latin America. The same
is true of the 100000 Puerto Ricans
and of our large Portuguese-speaking
population Numbering more than
2, 090, 00O). They have much in COM
mon with the peoples of the other
Americas. Because of them, the peo-
pie of the United States can be even
more appreciative of hemisphere Gull
tural values and even more attentive
to the needs of the Latin American
Republics than would otherwise be
the case With this in mind, it is
readily seen that our contacts with
those countries need not be limited
to amicable political and economic
exchanges. This sharing of peoples,
as well as common historical back
oroI,pds should ho ,,fi1izod IN hrip O