OCR Text |
Show THE CITIZEN 14 MEXICO DURING CONQUEST (Continued from Page 3.) ing a leading role, Mexico lost heavily in territory. Greatness. The one shining star in the dark firmament of Mexican independence is Benito Juarez. Out of the bosom of the Zapotecs, from the fastnesses of the Oaxaca mountains, rose to power and fame this barefoot, motherless urchin, the only pure Indian president Mexico has had. Lincoln, in whose time he lived, was his prototype. Frank, yet reticent; kind and cool, unafraid when danger confronted him; an indefatigable worker, devoting his leisure to a painstaking study of history, Benito Juarez understood his people and their needs as only an Indian could. He was the staunch friend of the United States. Special courts for clergy and military were abolished by the constituBoth tion of eighteen fifty-sevecivil and ecclesiastical corporations were prohibited from owning real estate, except for buildings actually in use by them. Much land had gravitated into the hands of the church. No state religion was prescribed, as it had theretofore been; religion was in fact ignored. The clergy became militant. In Juarez countered eighteen fifty-nin- e with laws confiscating and nationalizing their property, prescribing civil marriage, and divesting the church of control over cemeteries. Marriage and burial fees had. mounted till the poor, it was said, could no longer afford to marry, nor bury their dead. France, supported by England and Spain, aided the clergy. Mexico was invaded, while the United States was in the throes of civil war. The Austrian archduke Maximilian was crowned emperor. Civil war at end, Secretary Seward demanded of France the withdrawal of her troops. Maximilian was dethroned and shot. Juarez returned to power, but death claimed him before he could inaugurate a constructive program for the rehabilita- n. ODONNELL & CO. MORTICIANS Wasatch 6461 tion of his country. Juarez takes rank with Quauhtemotzin. Then Diaz came into power. For thirty years he ruled with iron hand. Peace he maintained, but the country did not prosper. Peonage continued. Land and Liberty Again. In nineteen ten the Madero revolution broke out, in earnest. Madero, Carranza and Obregon, all have since been assassinated. The number of Mexican revolutions during the last century and a quarter runs well into the hundreds, with these results: Mexico today imports foodstuffs she should raise herself. Her commerce and her industries are nearly all in foreign hands. The population is dwindling, dying off from starvation and disease, migrating to the United States. Imagine Mexico an oriental sea, a racial sea, covered with an alien, stifling surface. Periodically, the Indian blue waters convulse, as if in frantic attempt to break and throw off the smothering crust. Mexican revolutions, in their undercurrent, but reveal the Indians struggle to regain his long-lo- st supremacy. Mexico still has five million Indians. They seek expression. Priests had long functioned as to the Indians and peones. Upon the patron system and the army rested the government of Diaz. But the Madero revolution broke both. By and large, the people continue Catholic, though priests no longer hold the influence they formerly wielded. The old army is gone. The population now divides itself politically into two main groups: the laboristas (workers engaged in industry), and the agraristas (rural men). Morones is the leader of the former; Soto y Gama, of the latter. Calles has had the full support of the laboristas. Obregon was the idol of the agraristas. The two groups have been long antagonistic. Obregons assassination and Morones announced resignation from the cabinet but widen the breach between them. The new army, under the Indian Amaro, is well disciplined, but whether it can maintain peace only the future can tell. Bishop Diaz, now virtually the head of the church, is an Indian too. pa-tron- The Future. Salt Lakes Finest Funeral Home 32 South Fourth East CONTAINING UTAHS ONLY MAUSOLEUM es . Neither the mestizo nor the Indian is culturally suited to farming or industry on large scale. For them mass small shop in industry is essential, the Indian benefting chiefly by agriculture and the mestizo by industry. Eight years ago the Obregon-Calle- s regime took definite steps toward restoring to the old villages the lands that had been taken from them, a worthy measure but far from consummation. Indications point to shearing of the churchs economic and political power, but Mexico is likely to continue strongly Catholic. A plant that has been long uprooted needs careful replanting and nursing to grow again. But love of agriculture has not died out, and Mexicans are fine artisans, skilled in craftsmanship and handicraft. On this basis development may proceed, with hope of ultimate success. Disposing of her small industrial wares and her tropical agricultural produce principally in the markets of the United States, buying in return the products she cannot manu-fatcur- e, Mexico can be a and flourishing nation, living with her neighbor to the north in peace and friendship. The best interests of the United States are not inimical to Mexico. A beggar sitting upon a sack of gold, Humboldt wrote of Mexico a hundred years ago. Size considered, she is the richest country on the face of this earth. Her fortunes havent changed much, to be sure, but neither has she lost hope. "It is better to be up with the lark than down with the measles. self-sustaini- ng MAH & GARFIELD RAILWAY CO. Ship your freight via Bingham and Garfield Railway. Fast daily merchandise cars from Salt Lake Gty in connection with the Union Pacific System. USE COPPER Brass piping for $4500 cottage only costs $48.87 more than galvanized iron piping and will LAST FOREVER. T. H. PERLEYWITS, Asst. Gen. Freight & Pass. Agt. Salt Lake Gty, Utah. H. L. DAVIDSON, Agent. Bingham, Utah. MEET ME AT THE production would mean continued serfdom. Restoration of the old Indian land tenures and village life and the United States Smelting, Refining & Mining Co. 26 East 2nd South - Buyers of MATTE, FURNACE PRODUCTS and FLOTATION LEAD ZINC ORE NEWHOUSE BLDG. SALT LAKE, UTAH Sportsmens Headquarters Phone Was. 1946 |