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Show KNOW your 4 vi? NEIGHBOR MKVICO l'ATKON OK INDIAN CULTURE Aztec leg-end has it that Popocatepetl Popo-catepetl and his bride, Ixtacci-huntl, Ixtacci-huntl, came to the entrance of the valley of Mexico on their honeymoon. honey-moon. Giant that he is, Popocatepetl Popocate-petl found the 40-mile-vvide valley too narrow for his bulk, and asked his bride to rest while he explored for another passage. Unsuccessful in his quest, Popocatepetl returned return-ed to find his spouse asleep, and solicitously settled himself to wait the end of her aeon nap. vv .-' - . ; 4 X i i w i i 'V - '..'5 ; - s ; I x '- x N I v t i V r I s . : KEEPS THE FAITH Gen. Douglas MacArthur, Commander of United Nations Armies in the Southwest Pacific, is regarded as the outstanding military leader of anti-Axis foc. with certainty. Several civilizations were to appear and thrive before the coming of the Spaniards. The Mayas and others left cultures which still puzzle the scientist. Buried cities of clays long gone hint of a Mexico dimmed by centuries cen-turies but living still. First in silver, second in antimony, anti-mony, third in lead, fourth in mercury, mer-cury, fifth in zinc, sixth in gold, seventh in petroleum so runs the account of Mexican tangibles on the pre-war production sheets of the world. For Mexico is one of the world's richest mineral countries. Nearly every state has mines. And beyond the visible wealth are stores unfound, unused or scarcely scarce-ly touched in the rugged fastnesses fast-nesses of the Sierra Madre. But if treasure such as this drew the conquistadores of Old Spain, and others after them, it does not hold first interest for the Mexican. Mexi-can. Agriculture is the keystone of Mexican economy. About seven out of ten of the nation's more Through the centuries he has watched faithfully by her side, but, annoyed like many a man before be-fore and since, he sighs now and then with a breath of ashes and lava at the perversity of woman-J woman-J kind. 5; Popocatepetl is a volcanic moun- tain given to infrequent eruptions, whose hoary head, 18,000 feet in the clouds, may on a fair day be seen from any one of the modern hotels in Mexico City built for the accomodation of the tourist. Joined to it is the mountain, Sleeping Woman Wo-man or Ixtaccihuatl, wrapped in a snowy shroud, and out of this proximity grew the legend. The story makes delightful nonsense, non-sense, but it serves to highlight a characteristic of the Mexican people peo-ple reverence for and preservation preserva-tion of Indian lore and legend, song and story, culture and civilization. civili-zation. In councils of state, in commerce com-merce and the free arts, the Indian In-dian has been given freedom to achieve high place in shaping his nation's destiny, and with equal pride the modern Mexican may claim as heritage the blood of Indian In-dian ancestor and Spanish conqueror. con-queror. Northernmost of the Latin American Am-erican republics, Mexico's cultural fabric had its beginnings further into antiquity than' the archeolo-gist archeolo-gist has as yet been able to travel than nineteen millions live in rural ru-ral communities. Lying in tropic and temperate zones, with productive lowlands and fertile plateaus, in possible diversification of crops Mexico enjoys an advantage held by few nations. Crops range from the henequen or sisal hemp of subtropical sub-tropical Yucatan to the wheat of the central plateau and the long-fibre long-fibre cotton of Lower California. Corn, the leading crop, is grown in almost every part of the country. coun-try. From it comes the famed "tortilla," "tor-tilla," a truly national institution. Other important soil products are coffee, bananas, beans (frijoles), nuts, rubber, chicle, and tobacco. Though in recent years Mexican manufacturing has been expanding, expand-ing, with Monterrey as center, the country still looks largely to others for machinery, textiles, steel products, automobiles, paper and miscellaneous manufactures. But more and more, with development develop-ment of airways, railways and highways, Mexico is making use of a rich natural endowment and directing it into its own and the world's trade channels. And as the Pan American Highway pushes The United States would be making a better showing in the present war if congressmen had voted for larger warships ten years ago. When the congressional elections elec-tions come around this year the casualty lists will make people at home take some interest in the record of their representatives. |
