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Show Facts Abont Mexico The United Mexican States the official title of Mexico is'the third largest of American republics re-publics in population and fourth in territory. It has an area of 767,000 square miles, peopled by 15,112,000 persons, according to the census of 1910. The boundary bound-ary between Mexico and the United States is 1833 miles in length. Moving south from the Texas border General Funston's troops have tramped over uneven sandy wastes, a desert covered with hills and mountain spurs of sand and dead ashes of volcanoes, broken by ravines. Wherever there is water a tropical growth of vegetation is found. v A variety of climate unequalled unequall-ed in any part of the world prevails. pre-vails. In Chihuahua it is agreeable agree-able and very healthy, but becomes be-comes hot and moist as the coasts are neared. In the lower half of the country the heat is intense. The population is Indian, mixed mix-ed bloods and Spanish. About 19 per cent are pure white, 43 per cent mixed bloods and 38 per cent full blood Indians. A sprinkling of Chinese is found and there are some Americans,-English, Americans,-English, Germans, Japanese, Erench and Italians. Tine riches of the country, and fabulous wealth, is in the hands of foreigners, and the native Indian population has been ground down by invaders since the Spanish destroyed the Aztec empire in the early part of the sixteenth century. The great mass of the people virtually have been slaved, peons, and today to-day are ignorant, half starved and superstitious. Great land barons have allowed them no more than the cheap, dirty cotton cot-ton clothes on their backs. Under the General Diaz's iron rule the country was being developed de-veloped rapidly and held promises prom-ises for the peons. The Indian tribes were slowly giving up their various dialects and sending send-ing their children to school to learn Spanish. Railways were constructed, mines developed and agriculture flourished. But with the collapse of his government govern-ment the land went back to the revolutions which had disrupted it until Diaz's time, and the pe-i-n tcday is in worse condition, it is asserted, than he has b&en for many years. Torn by internal strife, which has seen whole districts laid waste,' Mexico suffers the blight of war waged in chaos. Ex. |