| Show VIEWS IN RELATION TO 31 MEXICO EXICO hubert II if Banc nanc bancroft rolt the historian recently made an extensive tour of mexico on his return to san francisco he was interviewed by a san francisco chronicle reporter it is quite interesting but too lengthy for publication in our columns in full we insert the fo following allowing extract however WOES 01 OP dhe aue WORKING PEOPLE what wb at I 1 is S t the h c present r c sent condition of the lower classes pitiable in the extreme in the cities they are the servant of servants in the country they are arc bound by habit by family ties and debt to haciendas and mines in a state of peonage or practical serfdom of course there are grades the lowest are a reproach to humanity they are tar far worse off as participants of this quality of european civilization than were their ancestors under aboriginal regime amon among them are arc some of the poorest and most moat abject abt ahne ct creatures on earth they are thinly or but partially clad thel an and the een men men beside cotton jackets and pantaloons oon s wearing hats and sandals and the wo women men and children going barefoot A grade or two higher we w e find the serape scrape and the poorest live on whatever they can pick up in the way of food and an at night huddle in huts or addoe apartments or sleep on the ground or pavement among them are all sorts of deformities and diseases and they are forced to labor of the most degrading kind in the cities they are made to take the place of trucks and in the mines of machinery they are made to carry through the streets and along the highways boxes and packages of merchandise weighing from to pounds to 1 say nothing about stones heavy tim tun bers and adobes acobes for building water earthelu eart ear thern heru and wooden ware furniture coffins offal etc it filled me with hu mality and cliame shame to see the image image not ot of my maker but of myself thus debased and saddest of all was to coni sider the lives of little children not j that the mothers were unkind to them on the contrary their affection and devotion were remarkable but they have no conception of what we would call the comforts of life ilfe 17 and yet they say those people are g good workers wor kers kerg none better there are among i them of course idlers lazy vagabonds who stand like statues all the day long by the wayside and rot there or petrify there before they will raise a hand to provide themselves with food but as a rule there are no people on earth who will do more work for less money it is a significant fact faett that hat three are no to speak of in mexico that in scattering themselves over the earth the mongolians Mongo lians avoid this place as they would a place of 0 pestilence they cannot compete with the mexican peons geons either in the amount or r quality of labor or economy in living livin in and the negroes of the united states are beside them thein a lazy lot with dull stolid brain and no small feadin feeding powers BUILDING UP A MIDDLE CLASS are the laboring classes difficult to t geta get along longwith with by no means keep faith with them pay them promptly as you promise and they will serve you f fully ully and acknowledge mastership as by divine right they have been so taught they have llave been drilled for centuries in the school of servility the first lesson of manhood they have yet to learn what is likely to be their final destiny that depends upon the circumstances c es attending development dur dar during in the next two or three generations if a large and superior foreign population flocks in i n the native meki Meil mexicans cans will be overwhelmed thrust aside to some extent absorbed and for the rest extirpated if those those who enter from abroad come as teachers in the several arts and industries rather than usurp ers of the soil many of the present inhabitants will be educated and improved into an intelligent and substantial middle class indeed every day this class is growing rapidly becoming larger and stronger and indeed this is the most hopeful feature feature of the republic you regard the prosperity of this class as essential to the prosperity of the nation most decidedly the primary cassity of the mexican nation today to day is not fore forc foreign ign population or foreign capital but an educated and thrifty middle class made up from its own people the intelligent rulers throughout butth the republic understand this perfectly they know that a peaceable and permanent per Ver manent government can not vest in irresponsible politicians arid arld transient officeholders holders or even in an aristocracy or dominating class alone but in a substantial middle class and they are doing all in their power to develop such a population latton asa As a matter of course if advancement is to be wholly from without with sut the future mexico will be a different nation from the present if the mexicans would retain their individuality vi they must cultivate themselves rather 11 than import all improvements how about the upper class well in the upper class as well as in the lower is found every desree dezree of race intermixture besides pureblood pure blood ed europeans and pure aboriginal americans the upper class in points of ability education wealth luxurious living livin g and refinement are superior to the estimation in which they are held abroad in fact in these respects I 1 regard them as not at all behind the other civilized nations of the world the leaders of society and politics are exclusive reticent making very little parade arade of their resources and abilities rut but the foreigner who thinks to take them in by superior shrewdness or cunning generally finds himself mor wor worsted |
